The Official Blog of SwimOutlet.com is where you can catch up on all the latest SwimOutlet.com news, events, swimmingtrends and product updates. Check us out and leave a comment, or send your own blog submissions directly to us for consideration at

By Jarrod Shoemaker, 2008 Olympic Triathlete

One of the newest innovations in swim training are swim watches. A few years ago, Garmin was the leading swim watch to track your open water swimming, but now there are several swim watches that will record data, while you swim in a pool.

SwimOutlet.com’s sister company Swim.com launched earlier this year with a training platform that is geared entirely towards using swim data to help athletes improve. The other training sites on the market are built towards multisport and are not efficient at analyzing data from swim watches. It is easy to tally distances, but nothing beyond that.

Swim.com has a few other great assets including local pool and club databases and social media connections. The site has been built to not only help swimmers improve, but also to allow swimmers to compare against other swimmers at their pools and in their circle of friends. This kind of social sharing has become especially popular in sports like running and cycling. These attributes are great to help motivate, improve and even create new training groups.

Swimming with a snorkel can be very beneficial to pool and open water swimmers of all ages and abilities, as well as triathletes. SwimOutlet.com has quite a few different snorkel options and products to choose from.

In order to help you hone in on the right snorkel for your holiday shopping, I have reviewed five different brands and they have all left me with very little air to train!

The three major benefits of training with a snorkel are: 1) an increased lung capacity; 2) an improved technique with the ability to monitor your own strokes and; 3) being able to enjoy the underwater view for extended periods of time.

Swim caps make perfect stocking stuffers! Easy to wrap, affordable with styles and designs for all types of swimmers. We asked our in-house triathlon expert Jarrod Shoemaker to break down the different swim cap options for open water swimmers.

By Jarrod Shoemaker, 2008 Olympic triathlete

There are quite a few types of swim caps on the market, and quite a few different varieties. This article specifically focuses on which types of caps are good for open water swimming.

We can rule out a few caps, such as kids fun swim caps and lycra caps (Unless you are racing lifeguard races in which case lycra caps are the norm). Lycra caps allow water to pass through them easily, they are not bad per se, but do not keep your hair dry and are not as fast as latex, silicone or neoprene caps.

Most races use latex caps as they are cheaper for the races to produce, so if you are racing triathlons or open water swimming event, you most likely have used a latex cap. Most competitive swimmers, like those at the Olympics are using silicone caps, since they are a bit more sturdy, and more hydrodynamic. I have a couple latex caps, silicone caps and neoprene caps that I take with me to open water swims or races so I can use the correct cap depending on water temperature.

SwimOutlet.com is proud of its partnership with U.S. Masters Swimming and carries a full line of U.S. Masters Swimming products from training accessories to swim gear. Each month, we look forward to highlighting some of the great swimming clubs across the U.S. that feature Masters teams for all types of swimmers. This months’ team comes from Virginia with the Reston Masters Swim Team.

SwimOutlet.com features a full-service team division that offers customization and bulk order discounts. We also have a team affiliate program that allows teams to set up their own online store to earn cash back for their team or club.

The growth in open water swimming in the past decade has been tremendous, whether for fitness, competition or multi-sport events like triathlons. Venues range from lakes to rivers to bays to oceans and each one presents different challenges. Most open water swimmers train for races exclusively in the pool and this can leave them unprepared for open water swimming. There are a few important techniques to think about when swimming open water, so I put them together with my tips: sighting, stroke efficiency, buoy turns and water entries and exits.

By Jordan Turner, SwimOutlet.com Social Media Coordinator

“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.” I will be the first to admit that I found a lot of excuses on the road to 70.3, most of which involved avoiding my bike. However eventually, after countless hours of training, endless support, a few meltdowns and some serious soul searching, I also found my way.

On July 26, I completed my very-first 70.3 distance triathlon, Barb’s Race in Sonoma County. Crossing the finish line after a long 70 miles— a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile run—is not something to be taken lightly. In fact, it was my biggest athletic accomplishment to date.

I know what you’re thinking, who in their right mind would sign up to race 70 miles in the first place? Well, being that I am young and fairly active (and maybe a little bit crazy), I am constantly finding new ways to challenge myself. At first, after college, it was a 5k fun run here and there—emphasis on fun (often times a tutu and paint were involved). When I got bored with the local 3-mile courses, I graduated to half-marathons. After having a handful of half-marathons under my belt, I decided it was time to test the waters in a triathlon (you see where I am going with this?). A few races later, I found myself standing on the edge of the Russian River in Guerneville, CA anxiously awaiting the 10-second countdown to my first 70.3 triathlon.

By Julie Stupp, Olympic Trials finalist

Tell us in the comments below where you will be doing your open water swimming this summer and you could win a pair of open water swimming goggles featured in our review!

Competing in the open water can be very intimidating for many swimmers and non-swimmers alike. The conditions in open water can often be a challenge. The water can be cold, choppy, there may be a current and most of the time it is murky so you have no idea what is lurking beneath you. Not to mention in most races there is a high probability of getting hit in the face with an arm or a leg of a competitor.

One of the few things you do have control of is what you are wearing and how well you react to the obstacles in the race. Having a great pair of open water goggles can relieve a lot of stress by helping you clearly see where you are going and what is going on around you.

Open water goggles are quite different from pool goggles and unfortunately I learned this the hard way during my first triathlon. I realized there are four main components I need to have in a great open water goggle.

When I work with the Fitter & Faster Team, I know that no matter what we do, we do it big! We take an idea and we do everything possible to make it the best thing out there. When you’re working with a group of Olympic Swimmers, you know that we’re competitive, disciplined, and we never settle for anything but an epic success. So when I was invited along with a group of my favorite fellow Olympic swimmers to San Jose, California for a secret project, I knew that something amazing was in the process.

As the ferry neared the shores of Angel Island, the idea of lunging into the icy bay for a nautical-mile swim became a reality. Hundreds of people stripped down to their swimsuits and lined the beach waiting for the start of the race. Among us were a dozen Olympians, who chatted with one another as they anticipated the final countdown. They were the first to go -- at 9:10AM the elite division departed at the blast of a shotgun.

Preparing for an open-water swim is both mentally and physically exerting. Swimming in a large body of water, as opposed to a pool, can also be an extremely rewarding experience. However, the preparations and training leading up to the event are crucial.

A few swimmers here at SwimOutlet.com are getting the chance to swim the popular RCP Tiburon Mile at the end of September -- so it's been a crash course to get ready. The RCP Tiburon Mile is one of the best-known swim races in the San Francisco Bay. This particular event features a mile of swimming in open waters, and solid preparation is key.